Your name could be mud. Such cross-cultural marketing fiascoes as Chevrolet's attempts at selling its Nova in Spanish-speaking markets (it means "no go") are well known. But naming a startup company has never been more stragtegically important that it is today. Companies that didn't give a thought to international branding often find themselves on the World Wide Web - where available names also are becoming harder to find. Many are turning to S.B. Master, president of Master-McNeil, Inc., in Berkeley, Calif., for her expertise in global "sound sense" - the art of choosing names that suggest properties such as size, quantity or quality. New from Master, who is responsible for such household names as Touchstone Pictures and LaserWriter Pro: Netopia (a family of Internet-related products); MemBrain (Marmot Mountain Ltd.'s new "smart" apparel textile); and Borealis (a European petrochemcial company).
